Probe into deaths at luxury home

Kika Willings (left), 18, is comforted outside the house where Margaret Pierides, 16, and her father were found

Police are investigating how a troubled teenage girl and her father died after they were found with fatal injuries at the family's luxury home.

Margaret Pierides, 16, was airlifted to hospital from the £750,000 detached house in the picturesque village of Sible Hedingham, Essex, on Saturday.

Her father, 48-year-old businessman Costas Pierides, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police refused to reveal how the pair died but said they were not looking for anyone in connection with the murder investigation.

Results of post-mortem tests are expected to be available on Monday.

The teenager's friends spoke of the rocky relationship she endured with her father but said the pair appeared to have "patched things up" recently.

She returned home a "few months ago" after spending time in a youth hostel in nearby Braintree.

Kika Willings, 18, who went to school in the village with Margaret, said: "When she went back home she was so happy. She was proper sorting her life out. She seemed to have patched things up. We were best friends. She was so much fun to be around. She was crazy."

On Saturday morning, hours before suffering fatal injuries, she posted a message on social networking site Facebook that said: "What a special girl I am. Well, my dad says so anyway."

The deaths happened a day after the family celebrated the birthday of Margaret's younger sister, Androulla.